New Book on Inequality

            Journalist David Cay Johnston has been writing about economic inequality for some time, with a focus on the ways the very wealthy protect and advance their privilege. In 2001 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his work on the ways that advantage plays out in the U.S. tax code. He is the editor of a new book, Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality that brings together close to 40 previously published articles and essays that cover a wide range of topics, all dealing in some way with economic injustice, and all in some way addressing the basic question Johnston poses at the end of the introduction: who benefits under the current system and who does not?

           Divided is a wonderful sourcebook, a readable introduction to the topic of inequality but also a kind of textual map for the more informed, providing in one book a sense of the many domains of our lives affected by growing inequality.

            I list below the authors and titles of some of the chapters to give a sense of the scope and sweep of the book. Full disclosure: Divided is published by my publisher, the New Press, and a section from Back to School is reprinted in it.

Partial Table of Contents

Inequality and Democracy

            President Barack Obama

The Vanishing Middle Class

            Elizabeth Warren

How Gains at the Top Injure the Middle Class

            Robert H. Frank

Inequality Is Holding Back the Recovery

            Joseph E. Stiglitz

Home Depot’s CEO-Size Tip

            Barbara Ehrenreich

Why Do So Many Jobs Pay So Badly?

            Christopher Jencks

Household Wealth Inequality

            Edward N. Wolff

Inequality Across Generations

            Jared Bernstein

No Rich Child Left Behind

            Sean F. Reardon

Educational Quality and Equality

            Linda Darling-Hammond

Health and Income Inequalities Are Linked

            Richard Wilkinson

Reducing Health Care Disparities

            Olveen Carrasquillo and Jaime Torres

Hunger in America

            Donald S. Shepard, Elizabeth Setren, and Donna Cooper

How Economics Is Biased Toward the Rich

            Moshe Adler

Social Security Reduces Inequality—Efficiently, Effectively, and Fairly

            Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson

Prison’s Dilemma

            Glenn C. Loury

Race, Gender, Family Structure, and Poverty

            Peter Edelman

Employed Parents Who Can’t Make a Living

            Lisa Dodson

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